A neighbor was cleaning out his garage and left this in the "free" pile. Do you know what this was used for? Definitely a mobile antenna with really small connector on the end of the wire - similar to the mount on the VX-7R but not the right thread. Should I put it back in the free pile?

I forgot cell phones even had antennas. Maybe I'll bolt it to the 80 to add to my antenna collection.

They all have antennas, not all have external antenna connectors anymore. I use an old RAZR V3 that has a cover over the antenna connector. Newer phones (like made in the past 5+ years) often do not, like a lot of smart phones have no provision for one.

The right angle connector in the picture looks a lot like the one attached to the death ray.

I wonder how much better a phone works with a real antenna on it? I am continually unimpressed with the reception of just about every cell phone I've tried.

Bruce, I know you know the answer to this. :-) Think about HT rubber duckies compared to an external antenna on your truck. Cell phones are functionally like low power HTs with lots of repeaters. There's more to cell phone antennas compared to clunky ham radios, it's getting pretty awesome what the RF guys can dream up for cramming narrow bandwidth microstrip antennas into devices. Still, there's no substitute for a gain antenna in open space, the rule that the best antenna is the one with most metal in the air still holds.